Princess@Sea Cruise App Question

[pablo222]

I second this. Does anyone know if the messenger app is for the Ruby yet? All I could find was that it would be coming in the following months per the princess website but no indication of when that is.

 

Not available on Ruby for the 31-May cruise.

 

I asked the MTN gent, and he had no idea when it might

be available.

[billco]

Thanks. t least that works. That seams to be the better part of it. When you used it did everything work on it. I heard that for some people the menus didn't show up?

Don't remember seeing any menus. Just what was posted above - events, locations, itinerary, account, internet access, and general information. Edited June 10, 2015 by billco

[insidecabin]

You don't need the app to use the messenger feature there is a browser based version(handy for those on windows as no app anyway).

 

We were on royal 21stMay-2nd June and the real issue was getting the wi-fi connection to the intranet to stay up.

 

I think they have the access to the access points/intranet set up wrong so your device thinks it needs attention to complete the wi-fi connection when it should just connect.(windows 8 and 8.1) especialy enoying as you move round the ship and new access points are used.

 

Once connected and your access set up(cabin card details) it works quite well and notifications only take a few secconds to come to the browser from your "friends"

 

When you sign in you automaticaly become friends with your cabin occupant(s) you get a code to make friends with others.

 

I found the account info handy as I had issues with some credits and the princess patter is usefull if you forget where things are happening.

There was some stuff missing did not note what

 

There are some free sites like princess.com.

 

you can setup your internet from the home page.

 

Princess should impliment a dummy land based princess @ sea and get loads of free testing.

[pablo222]

Don't remember seeing any menus. Just what was posted above - events, locations, itinerary, account, internet access, and general information.

 

On my last cruise, the future cruise gent sent a form to purchase

future cruise certificates to the cabin. (I assume all cabins)

It was completely filled out with name, etc.

All that was required was to enter the number of FCCs desired and sign.

 

I thought this was brilliant, until...

 

I discovered that you can purchase FCCs using the princess@sea.

 

It was under 'location - Future Cruise Sales'. There was a link

on the page to purchase FCCs.

 

There was a drop down to select the desired number of FCCs for

each account being settled to the same credit card.

 

Regrettabley, I used the paper form before I found this.

There are two seconds signing the paper form that I will never

get back! :(

[Astro Flyer]

I heard that for some people the menus didn't show up?

 

Don't remember seeing any menus. Just what was posted above - events, locations, itinerary, account, internet access, and general information.

On the Royal & Regal menus for Alfredo's Pizzeria, Gelato's & Ocean Terrace and as I recall also for Sabatini's & Crown Grill were available on P@S.

 

Unlike in the dining room & buffet which changes daily, those menus never change & is probably why they had them available to view.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[billco]

On my last cruise, the future cruise gent sent a form to purchase

future cruise certificates to the cabin. (I assume all cabins)

It was completely filled out with name, etc.

All that was required was to enter the number of FCCs desired and sign.

 

I thought this was brilliant, until...

 

I discovered that you can purchase FCCs using the princess@sea.

 

It was under 'location - Future Cruise Sales'. There was a link

on the page to purchase FCCs.

 

There was a drop down to select the desired number of FCCs for

each account being settled to the same credit card.

 

Regrettabley, I used the paper form before I found this.

There are two seconds signing the paper form that I will never

get back! :(

I bought FCCs on my last cruise using princess@sea. Why? Because I could.

[princess65]

What exactly is the messenger app called? I have searched for it on the Apple App Store and the closest thing I see is called Cruise Ship Mate.

[Thrak]

What exactly is the messenger app called? I have searched for it on the Apple App Store and the closest thing I see is called Cruise Ship Mate.

 

On my Droid it's called Princess@Sea Messenger. I don't do "i" so not sure what it's called in the iStore.

[Astro Flyer]

What exactly is the messenger app called? I have searched for it on the Apple App Store and the closest thing I see is called Cruise Ship Mate.

 

Previously it was available as "Princess Cruises Messenger" but it's no longer there...maybe they removed it until they can develop a fully functioning app.

[princess65]

Previously it was available as "Princess Cruises Messenger" but it's no longer there...maybe they removed it until they can develop a fully functioning app.

 

Ok, thanks! I will keep watching for it to come back.

[pablo222]

Previously it was available as "Princess Cruises Messenger" but it's no longer there...maybe they removed it until they can develop a fully functioning app.

 

I think this is the second time it has been removed from the iTunes store.

 

It is still available to disappoint android users:

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gcm.princess.messenger

 

From the description, I think they do intend notifications to work:

 

The new Princess Cruises Messenger App is now available on select ships!

Key Messenger Features Include:

* Free onboard messaging to other guests onboard.

* Push notifications on your device when you receive a message.

* Contacts incorporated for ease of messaging.

* Automatically connects to Princess@Sea once onboard.

Edited June 18, 2015 by pablo222

[princess65]

I think this is the second time it has been removed from the iTunes store.

 

It is still available to disappoint android users:

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gcm.princess.messenger

 

From the description, I think they do intend notifications to work:

 

The new Princess Cruises Messenger App is now available on select ships!

Key Messenger Features Include:

* Free onboard messaging to other guests onboard.

* Push notifications on your device when you receive a message.

* Contacts incorporated for ease of messaging.

* Automatically connects to Princess@Sea once onboard.

 

 

The onboard messaging to other guests would be a great service. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to set up an app that does that. I hope they get it figured out soon!

[UpcountryTravelers]

I tried to use it on the Regal last year. They would not let me log in on my laptop (Windows 7). Kept telling me my birth date was wrong. Pardon me, but I KNOW when I was born. I found out after the cruise that Princess had changed my birth year. Would be nice to be 4 years younger....but no.

[Dr Millmoss]

We were on the Royal June 14-26. In our experience the app wasn't totally useless, but it was not very useful, either. It also does not work as advertised.

 

First, the app really isn't really an app; it simply redirects to your web browser and the ship's intranet. From there you can view shipboard events and other features, such as checking your stateroom account. Fine as far as it goes, but we found the events listings to be quite inconsistent. Sometimes events just disappeared, and not because they'd already happened. The most useful feature, especially early on in the cruise, was "map it," which shows the deck plan zoomed to the event location.

 

Second, Messenger setup was awkward, to say the least. It did not, as another poster suggested, automatically connect occupants of the same stateroom. In fact, if you follow the onscreen instructions to connect to another passenger, it doesn't work at all. I had to ask the tech support guy in the internet cafe show me how to make this work and he walked me though the setup. This involved typing in a passenger code number that you have to discover somehow (I don't recall how precisely, but it required a couple of taps). After I got it set up, it still did not push notifications to our phones, so any thought of actually using it was abandoned.

 

Third, it theoretically provides access to your paid onboard internet account. This sounds useful, but be warned, the login you created to use Princess@Sea will be different than the one you created to log into your internet account. If you know this ahead of time you could make them the same, I suppose, but you will still need to type them in separately each time. Not very well thought out.

 

Fourth, the app forgets your login every time your device disconnects from the ship's intranet. So that means you will be logging in again every port day, assuming you take your phone with you. It could remember your password, it just doesn't have that feature. Annoying.

 

As others have noted, this "app" is now no longer available for downloading at the Apple iTunes store. I can only hope this signals Princess's understanding that it's pretty much a complete failure in its present form.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Dr Millmoss

[pablo222]

We were on the Royal June 14-26. In our experience the app wasn't totally useless, but it was not very useful, either. It also does not work as advertised.

 

Thank you for your detailed comments.

[Pam in CA]

As has been said repeatedly, Princess@Sea is not an app. Never has been even though it's been available on the Royal and other ships for over two years. Princess@Sea uses an HTML page to access the ship's Intranet via WiFi. You create a login and password for Princess@Sea which is separate from using the Internet with it's own login and password.

[pablo222]

As has been said repeatedly, Princess@Sea is not an app. Never has been even though it's been available on the Royal and other ships for over two years. Princess@Sea uses an HTML page to access the ship's Intranet via WiFi. You create a login and password for Princess@Sea which is separate from using the Internet with it's own login and password.

 

Princess calls it "Princess@Sea Messenger"

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/gp/top-10/reason-7/#.VZZvqvlVhBc

 

Regardless of what it's called, it's pretty clear princess needs to find

some AIM developers from the eighties, and implement a messenger.

Edited July 3, 2015 by pablo222

[rdemn]

Princess@sea Messenger is not in the Apple store I guess Apple pulled for one reason or another.

I am so done with Apple products seems They just can't get anything right anymore.

[pablo222]

Princess@sea Messenger is not in the Apple store I guess Apple pulled for one reason or another.

I am so done with Apple products seems They just can't get anything right anymore.

 

I am not an iFan, but apple has much more stringent requirements

for getting something into the iTunes store, that the android play store.

 

It seems like that's sort of good for users.

 

If princess can't make an app that works, that's certainly on princess,

not apple.

[Dr Millmoss]

Princess@sea Messenger is not in the Apple store I guess Apple pulled for one reason or another.

I am so done with Apple products seems They just can't get anything right anymore.

 

Extremely unlikely. The most reasonable explanation for why it is not available now is because it does not actually work. Princess is the company that did not get it right.

[Dr Millmoss]

I am not an iFan, but apple has much more stringent requirements

for getting something into the iTunes store, that the android play store.

 

It seems like that's sort of good for users.

 

If princess can't make an app that works, that's certainly on princess,

not apple.

 

The biggest issue is that Messenger isn't actually an app, it simply redirects to your browser, which then loads the ship's intranet URL. On our June cruise on the Royal, this was royal.princess.com (IIRC). Since the "app" did nothing else, presumably you could simply type the URL into your browser and get the same results. The only app-like function was supposed to be push notifications of messages, which I can attest, simply doesn't work, at least not on the iOS version. Perhaps someone who's tried the Android version can report on whether it worked for them.

 

Oddly, Princess is still marketing this product on their web site, even though since the end of June, it is no longer available for download. I wonder how Princess is explaining this to customers who ask about it.

 

Incidentally, Apple does not remove apps from the store abruptly and without notice. Developers are notified of any problems and provided with an opportunity to conform to the guidelines.

[pablo222]

The biggest issue is that Messenger isn't actually an app, it simply redirects to your browser, which then loads the ship's intranet URL.

 

So the poster calling it princess@sea is exactly right!

 

And, you're right, that's a joke, not an app. The android version is actually an

app.

Edited July 4, 2015 by pablo222

[Dr Millmoss]

So the poster calling it princess@sea is exactly right!

 

And, you're right, that's a joke, not an app. The android version is actually an

app.

 

What they call it is kind of confusing. The icon includes the title "Princess@Sea" under the Princess logo, but the name of the "app" is "Messenger." The simplest explanation for this disparity is the onboard system is called Princess@Sea but the purpose of the app is/was to push message notifications (which does not work).

 

Why the iOS app was constructed in this lame way is beyond me. I haven't done any programming in years, but I know that iOS apps can be created with HTML, so I believe the app could be set up as a wrapper for the HTML being served by the ship's intranet.